否 → 晉

Commentary

Heaven and earth refuse to communicate as a pair of wild ducks fly together, hoping to return to the rice paddies. But they pass through a reed marsh and are struck by arrows, the wound piercing the chest. From Standstill to Progress, Pi's sealed world should give way to fire rising above the earth — brilliance ascending, the marquis receiving horses in a single day. Yet the verse denies the progress: the ducks that fly toward their goal are shot down in the marshes. Jin's image is the sun emerging from the earth at dawn, but here the flight toward light is intercepted. The reed marsh becomes a killing ground, and aspiration is punished with arrows. Progress attempted through dangerous terrain without adequate preparation invites destruction.